Research

Below is a list of research papers, reports and other publications from Ekklesia dating back to 2004. Click on the title for more information on each publication, and a link through to the item itself where available. You might also like to sign up for our award winning weekly research bulletin which will ensure you are kept up-to-date with the very latest research from Ekklesia.

Amid the turmoil hastened by uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa in 2013, and indeed over the past three years, we must not forsake hope about the future of this region – even when its visible signs seem to be eerily absent – argues regional analyst and Ekklesia associate Dr Harry Hagopian. In this briefing paper he offers seven lenses for viewing current and recent events. As to the future, the hope is that the pain and sacrifice involved will prove a valve for genuine change. The MENA region is definitely in for the long haul. There are no easy or neat solutions. But today the road ahead still remains open, albeit bumpy.

Love of God and neighbour are inextricably intertwined, and committed loving partnerships can nurture spiritual growth as well as bringing joy. Couples and their children (where present) are also called to care for others outside their own households. In Jesus Christ, men and women are invited to be part of a wider family whose love overspills to the needy and even enemies, Christians recognise. Barriers of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and status are overcome in this divine commonwealth of justice and mercy which is the new family created by Christ. Little of this vision comes across in Men and women in marriage, issued by the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission with the House of Bishops’ approval in 2013 and commended for study. This document attempts to justify senior clergy’s opposition to marriage equality while allowing pastoral “accommodations” for same-sex couples. Its approach to the Bible, tradition, reason and experience is inadequate, and it fails to do justice to many heterosexual as well as same-sex couples, with damaging consequences for the wider church’s mission and ministry.

This review of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) has been written by Stef Benstead with support from the Spartacus network of disabled researchers and advocates. It examines the failure of the current ESA system and makes ten recommendations for interim improvements to ESA, with the ultimate aim of pointing towards radical changes in the welfare system so that it can benefit all, but particularly disabled, sick and other vulnerable people. Inter alia, the report reveals that, contrary to the latest official report, first-year Review recommendations have mostly not been adequately implemented and that the experience of those subject to assessment is negative and damaging.

On 10 December 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet 65 years later, human rights abuses are still widespread. Faith groups and other people of goodwill have much to do if “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” is to be achieved. This Ekklesia briefing by Savitri Hensman looks at how human rights are defended and extended, not least from a faith perspective, and what they mean for us in a changing, globalised world. Reference is made specifically to UK-related issues, including poverty and disability.

The Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement has published its second report on Part Two of the Transparency in Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill 2013-14 on 10 December 2013. It follows extensive consultations in England, Scotland and Wales. Ekklesia is a registered supporter of the Commission. We support its general approach and findings, while sharing significant doubts as to whether the Lobbying Bill, which we believe to be unjust and undemocratic in its present form, can be rendered fit for purpose in time for the 2015 election.